Frederick Mutual continues the series on the InVest Program as we hear from insurance industry leader Diane Wagner who serves as Chief Operating Officer of First Choice Agents Alliance and board member of the InVest program . Diane reiterates how the program continues to shape the insurance industry and the importance of this program for generations to come. Listen to the second episode of the podcast below and its’ accompanying transcript!
Rachael: Hi, my name is Rachael with Frederick Mutual, and I am here with Diane Wagner from InVest. She is on the board and we will be talking a little bit more about the program today and we welcome you to our podcast and I will turn it over to Diane.
Diane: Thank you, Rachael. My name is Diane Wagner and I am the Chief Operating Officer at First Choice Agent Alliance we are an agency network. I am also on the board of InVest and am happy to be here today.
Rachael: Great, well thank you for coming today and offering up some your wisdom and answers to these questions. To start, what is your role in the InVest program as a board member?
Diane: So, I have been a recent addition to the Invest board and am actually the first agent that sat on the InVest board as InVest has normally been made up of insurance company individuals. The role of the InVest board is to guide the operating principles of the organization and assist where we can.
Rachael: Great, and what propelled you to want to get involved?
Diane: So, I had an opportunity going on 35 years ago to speak in a local school district where I grew up. The idea being to introduce insurance as a career to high schoolers. I had an opportunity to speak at a vocational high school students near my hometown. Then we talked to kids about my career at the time. I was a young underwriter working at a large insurance company and just how that experience had affected me and what a great opportunity I thought it might be for some kids who were considering their future maybe in the insurance business. So, that was kind of my first introduction to InVest and then after that I kept in touch with the organization. They are members of the Big I, a nonprofit affiliated with the BIG I and the Insurance Agents of America. So, I always had a desire to work within those programs before and had an opportunity to teach in the InVest class with another agent friend of mine in Rock Hill, South Carolina about five years ago. We actually taught the curriculum that has been created by InVest to a class about 30 high schoolers with the hope that we would be able to place some of the individuals in the local agencies in the summertime as interns. And, we just had a tremendous outpouring of response from that group of high schoolers. And our hope was either one, they would continue on in their collegiate education and consider insurance as a career; and, if they weren’t interested in college then they would consider working in agencies right out of high school. We saw the success the program had with those kids in the Rock Hill high schools.
Rachael: That is pretty amazing that the program is doing so much and has done so much. So, what does the InVest program need at this stage in its life span?
Diane: Well, you know as I said, InVest is an nonprofit affiliate with the Big I and they operate via donations. One thing my company has done has started a fundraising campaign for InVest to raise funds. Obviously, the more money they have the more opportunities they have to sow. We have a large issue with staff as many organizations do today. Getting people interested in insurance is a challenge and has always been a challenge but I think with the recent shortages of employees period it makes it even more challenging. So, I think this program is becoming more and more important as agencies struggle with the staffing crisis. There are a lot of really interesting things happening in both in the school space but also in the workplace/apprenticeship space. So, they’re running two silos in invest one in the school program but also looking to organizations to introduce insurance as a career to other folks in different careers who may want to transition their career to the insurance industry. There is a lot of interesting developments in the school level and the workplace level. There is a lot of interest in diversity and introducing insurance to a more diverse base of individuals who might not have thought of insurance as a career. So, I think it really a critical time for everyone to get involved whether it be donations to the invest organization or donations of time in the local school. I think collectively we can all solve the problem of staffing in the agencies whether it be CSRs or the producing level. So, I think there are some exciting things are coming down the pipe for both invest and the national and local regards. So, I am really excited to see some of the progress that has been made that has been made in the last couple of years.
Rachael: That is really encouraging and awesome to see who is getting involved and all the different streams that you are reaching people. So, how do you see companies or agencies like Frederick Mutual aiding the growth and success of the InVest program. Is it mainly through financial support?
Diane: It is interesting. One of the biggest opportunities for Frederick Mutual is the program I was involved with in upstate New York. It was actually started by - in conjunction with Dryden Mutual another insurance company very similar to Frederick mutual in central New York. And they have been working with the InVest program for many years. And they have developed 40-year relationship with local high school and local technical colleges, and it has become a feeder system for Dryden Mutual with the company and Dryden Mutual agents. Our hope is working with Frederick to replicate Dryden’s success in upstate New York. I think the interest is there and I think the ability is there and I think we can create something meaningful with Frederick Mutual’s help in the local Maryland school district. But even more importantly InVest has workplace development programs and apprenticeship programs in conjunction with the state and local universities and community colleges where they’re looking for employers from an agency side and a company side to place these apprenticeships. And Frederick Mutual has been a tremendous supporter in that program as well. So, I think that there is huge collaboration potential. I know Nancy Newmister the CEO if Frederick Mutual has had as much interest in InVest as I have over the years and feels strongly about coming up through the ranks. So, I think there is a tremendous opportunity for Frederick Mutual to partner with Invest and really take the apprenticeship program and the school program to another level in Maryland with its own employees and with its agency’s employees. When we think about insurance as a career its interesting when we taught the program in the rock hill schools we had 30 kids in that class and at the end of the program we had 19 students were interested in internships. And I think the need is for folks to understand the broad array of opportunities. There are so many young people who think about insurance and all they can wrap their mind around is selling insurance products to someone and that is not the case, there are so many tremendous opportunities from Drone pilots to Claims Adjusters to Actuaries to Loss control who are out of the office all day looking at properties. There are all kinds of different exciting opportunities. I think about myself starting in the insurance company when I was 18 years old and being all over of the world with my insurance company partners. So, the opportunities I have had have been so great considering where I started and I think that’s what’s important to show the next generation is how exciting of a career this can be and what a wonderful career it can be from a personal standpoint. But it is also a noble profession protecting what folks have worked their whole lives for. So, I think if we can all get involved in some way whether a financial donation to InVest or just donation of your time to support the cause or even welcome your local schools or get involved in the apprenticeship programs like Frederick Mutual has, I think there’s going to be a greater opportunity for us to continue to stay at the levels we need to continue our organization successfully.
Rachael: That is very well said. You are a great spokesman for the program, and I really appreciate your thoughts and joining me today. Do you have any additional thoughts before we sign out?
Diane: No, the only thing I would say is you are interested in additional information you can check out the invest website. www.investprogram.org. And certainly, if you have any questions, you can reach out to myself, Rachael, or Nancy at Frederick Mutual. And again, thank you for your time, Rachael, I do appreciate it.
Rachael: Wonderful. We will put that link with podcast so everyone can have access to it and thank you again, Diane.
